A two-part series at the Quad Cinema chronicles the cheaply made and formally rich horror movies that the UK’s Hammer Films began producing in the 1950s.
Film
Agnès Varda’s Utopian Musical Homage to Feminism from the 1970s
One Sings, the Other Doesn’t, Varda’s precious and poignant feminist musical from 1977 has been restored.
Cute Cartoon Animals Cope with Office Drudgery in Aggretsuko
The new Netflix series, based on characters developed by Hello Kitty creator Sanrio, subverts the fantastical expectations of most anime narratives.
An Artist’s Film Not Like the Others
We watch Ellen Berkenblit drawing. She is left-handed and uses charcoal. She rubs lines out and never looks at the camera.
Bruce LaBruce Misfires with an Awkward Marriage of Punk and Camp
The provocative auteur’s latest, The Misandrists, attempts a tongue-in-cheek critique of radical feminism.
One Man’s Quixotic Quest to Walk Every Mile of New York City
The World Before Your Feet follows Matt Green as he spends years walking all 8,000 miles of New York City’s roads, sidewalks, parks, cemeteries, and overlooked edges.
In Her Films, Chris Kraus Revels in Art’s Failure
The level of dedication required to see all nine films in her solo exhibition feels both deserved and important, since her films have largely been critically and commercially overlooked.
That Summer Offers a More Human Look at the Women of Grey Gardens
As a “prequel” look at the Beales, That Summer makes for a fascinating contrast between the icons they have been turned into and the people they were before then.
Stream the Only Film Ever Shot in Cinemiracle, a Wondrous Widescreen Format from the 1950s
Windjammer, a movie following a half-year voyage across the Atlantic, used a brand-new extreme widescreen camera system that hoped to become a new industry standard.
How and Why Art Became “Degenerate” in Nazi Germany
Narrated in Italian by actor Toni Servillo and directed by Claudio Poli, the film somewhat drowsily recounts the madness of the Nazi’s quest to first sanitize, and then steal the art of Europe.
A Documentary on Basquiat’s Teen Years Tracks a Star’s Early Ascent
Sara Driver’s new documentary Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat wants to bring the young art star back down to earth, but often can’t help positioning hovering him above.
Juliette Binoche Beds and Sheds Lovers in Claire Denis’s Anti-Rom-Com
Let the Sunshine In is a rom-com only insofar as our heroine, a successful painter and divorcee, drinks and sleeps with a lot of men and frets about it later; but the laughs are few and the sighs are heavy.